This section provides general background information related to the present disclosure and the background information is not necessarily prior art.
There are a wide variety of various tools that have been developed for removal and installation of all types of bolts, nuts, and other generally hexagonal fasteners. Of those tools, the most common tool is a socket wrench combination that includes a wrench having a handle upon which a square drive end has been incorporated, usually at a right angle to the handle axis. In general operation, a female socket is attached to the square drive end of the handle. In most cases the handle also incorporates a ratcheting mechanism that allows a fastener to be rotated a full 360 degrees with as little as only 5 to 10 degrees rotation of the handle.
Various assorted attachments have been developed that can be used with the socket wrench. In many cases, the attachments act to provide better access to a fastener to be worked upon and allow the handle to be rotated as easily as possible while placing the socket at a position that best engages the fastener. For example, one accessory for the socket wrench includes a universal joint that attaches to the square drive end of the handle and then, through a set of yokes included in the universal joint, allows the transference of the torque from the socket wrench to a fastener that is otherwise hard to reach.
One class of attachments for the socket wrench are extensions that attempt to extend the reach of the socket wrench to allow the socket to engage in fasteners that are not within the reach of the standard socket wrench and socket combination. Those accessories are classified as socket extensions and are positioned between the square end drive of the socket wrench and the socket to relocate the socket at a greater distance from the square end drive of the socket wrench than the socket would be if the socket was instead attached directly to the square end drive. Within the tool industry, socket extensions are normally made in discrete increments of length. For example, socket extensions come in standard lengths of 3.0 inches, 6.0 inches and 10.0 inches. In combination, socket wrenches, sockets, and socket accessories have provided a useful and common method of installing and removing various types of fasteners.
While these standard length extensions are useful for most applications, there are other applications where the clearance available for access to a fastener simply does not allow for the use of standard length extensions because the length of the extension needed does not fall within the discrete 3.0 increments found in standard socket extensions.